On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Since a lot of our members live outside the United States, I wanted to try to explain some of the subtleties behind this month's audio file, particularly on the role of the fruitcake in the American Christmas holiday season.

Basically, fruitcake in the US is kind of a joke. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine food, and to be honest it sounds pretty tasty, with the fruit and the cake and all, but over the last few dozen years, the image of the fruitcake has become associated with mass-produced, rock-hard, mail-order loaves of brick-like cake sent to family members and friends far away. The joke is that no one ever actually eats the fruitcake they're sent, since it's so unappetizing.... they just repackage it and send it on to the next person.

So then this would be my interpretation of the audio file: the male character is wishing the female character a merry Christmas and presenting her with a present, which is an unappealing fruitcake. He's hoping that she'll be pleased with the gift, but not only is she unimpressed, she catches him re-gifting the same thing she gave him the previous Christmas.

That's just my interpretation, though, so please feel free to interpret the clip however you like. It's always interesting to animate characters who are saying one thing but meaning another (subtext), so there should be some good opportunities in this clip. Good luck and have fun this month!

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

WOW fruit cake!!! Here in Brazil I can tell you we just love a type of fruit cake we have around here and believe me it wont last any crumbs from it!! And I have to say that I really enjoyed this audio and I'm having itches to dive into my table and start to work!!! Nice choice!!

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Hey Bruno; guess what I'm sending you for x-mass

Dang! I just may have stumbled on a business opportunity.

Last edited by DharAM (12-01-2007 5:06 am)

"Technology doesn't make the motion picture, people do. You're not an animator just because you can move an object from point A to point B. (You're) someone who breathes life into a character, which is something the software and technology can't give you."

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

R7N, that'd be correct, just re-listened to the audio. She does say 'gave' instead of 'got.'

Shame that, even though I did thumbnails, I never got around to animating last month's audio...despite just about starting in Flash...

I will join in this month . Wouldn't miss it for the world. Still trying to wrap my head around the cultural reference as concerns the fruitcake, as fruitcake isn't usually part of a joke here in England. I think I get it...it might take a little time to settle in.

In the meantime, fruitcake all around!

Last edited by Kaidonni (12-01-2007 11:25 am)

The greatest story known to mankind:Algy met a bear. The bear was bulgy. The bulgy was Algy.

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Well, I guess it's up to you to use one or two characters. I think this month's audio is pretty cool, because there's a lot of silent moments, and we could take advantages of them by showing emotions or changes in our characters. So I believe two characters could make the animation a lot better. But I've got this problem now: I don't have any characters of my own, and those you can find here in the Resources section are a bit young to fit the voices ( they sounds like adults voices to me). I'll use the andy rigs for this month I guess...hope it will work . Anyway, good luck to you, with one or two Ch. !!!!

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

This is a funny audio piece!

the great thing about it is that there seems to be so much going on under the surface. The dialog from both characters is heavy with...well I'll try to figure that out.

From first impressions, I'd say the woman is being very dry in her response. And the guy seems to be ridiculously pleased with himself! Or he's trying to hard to cover for how poor his gift is. Btw does he like this woman do you think?

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

My kitchen cupboard / pantry looks like a crime scene. With all the fruitcakes looking like I've bricked in a body at the back of the cupboard. I just checked and one of those fruit cakes is from 2002. I live in the subtropics with massive flying cockroaches making their own midnight snacks. But they won't touch those fruitcakes. No mould on them either, that's wierd. Writing this is like brainstorming. I think I've got enough for some thumbnails.

Speaking of thumbnails, I found one in a piece of fruitcake once. Hmmm, I wonder what people's fruitcakes will look like.

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Hi everyone - i am new to 11 sec club - meaning: i'm gonna enter this month instead of spectating for so long and this months one seems a tough one!

Just a few things i thought of which Kaidonni mentioned about fruitcakes in United Kingdom - i thought a fruitcake was a "nutjob" and giving someone a fruitcake might also suggest that - i thought it was more of an insult on so many levels - its not a very good gift & it gets passed on from one person to another! Am i reading too much into it?

I don't think the man likes the woman very much - why would he give her a fruitcake & the one she gave him last year!! So it seems they both don't like each other in the first place!!!!

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Hi guys..I'm new in the forum, and I'd like to try to join the competition.I'm from Indonesia, which is so far away from th US and its 'fruitcake culture', but I think the brief explanation will do just fine ! ehehe..Thanks for the description aja !good luck to all ...

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

I googled the quote and found it's from the movie Mixed Nuts and the voices are Steve Martin and Madeline Kahn. I am not familiar with the movie but it definitely sounds to me like they don't like each other and are giving an obligatory gift

Reminds me of my great grandmother's fruitcakes. They were just awful. She made them every year and didn't just give us one but invited us over before Christmas for some. As a kid I just couldn't understand why bother making a cake if you're not going to frost it. Now that I think about it, as an adult I still wonder that? :-)

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Howdy folks,

Thanks to Traci for the info on the movie.

I'm having a hard time with one of the rigs (Andy). I animated the male voice using Generi and even had written a couple of MEL scripts to set all the keys for Generi's body and face controls. As for the female voice, I'm struggling with the Andy rig. I'm about to quit using it (currently I'm trying to find all the animation controls in Andy's rig so I can write some scripts to make it easier to animate it). One other option would be to import another Generi into the Maya file and make some changes so that it looks like a woman.

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

I know it may sound a little awkward and disturbing but in the spirit of the competition I had a go at eating a home made fruit cake and to be quite honest it was surprisingly nice! I expected it to be as hard as a brick but instead it was very moist, fruity and sweet.

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

I watched the movie on Netflix. Nothing much happens with this line. All it does is introduce the characters for us. Philip (Steve Martin) is portrayed as a sincere do-gooder who runs a suicide prevention hotline staffed by the grouchy Mrs. Munchnick (Madeline Kahn). Its a light comedy about unlikely events and characters in a southern California beach town on Christmass Eve. After this line they cut to the next scene that does not build up on it at all.

So far the people here have done much more creative use of the line than in the movie. But isn't that what makes this forum so much fun?

"Technology doesn't make the motion picture, people do. You're not an animator just because you can move an object from point A to point B. (You're) someone who breathes life into a character, which is something the software and technology can't give you."

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Re: On Fruitcake (December's Audio File)

Hi vinayak,

Your upload didn't work, possibly because of how Firefox on Linux handles video uploads... we're going to look into it. In the meantime, you can either try uploading from a different browser or computer, or emailing the entry directly to our admin email account for us to upload manually.

And FYI, Mark just set up email confirmations for successful uploads, so from now on when you upload or update your entry before the deadline, you'll get an email saying we successfully received it.